Thermotherapy devices for newborn and premature infants (infants) are generally known. There are both thermotherapy devices for open care and so-called incubators, in which the newborn and premature infants are located in a closed incubator chamber.
It was found in care practice that premature infants often require a limitation from all sides, similarly to the situation in the womb. However, this is opposed in conventional incubators by the fact that the infant lies on a flat bed surface with transparent lateral limitations.
Therefore, DE 20 2009 009 794 U1 provides for a receiving device for premature infants, which can be hung freely swinging in an incubator. The lying surface is formed here by a hammock. The hammock is hung into the incubator chamber from the top.
DE 200 06 785 U1 and DE 43 16 173 A1 also provide for a support in a supporting aid hung in the incubator chamber. DE 200 06 758 U1 describes that the hammock-like supporting aid is fastened to hooks, which are permanently anchored in the side walls of the incubator chamber. DE 43 16 173 A1 makes provisions for the infant to be firmly wrapped around by the supporting aid. The supporting aid being proposed is suspended in a rail at the top part of the incubator by means of hooks.
Just as in conventional incubators, which have no hanging supporting aid, the infants lie in all these incubators at least relatively isolated from the surrounding area in closed, transparent boxes. However, this makes it difficult to have an intimate physical connection with the parents or also with nursing staff, which is actually especially important at this stage of development.
The kangaroo method, in which the infants are temporarily removed from the incubator and brought into contact with the mother or the father skin to skin, is therefore used to various degrees in many hospitals to solve this problem. This is, however, associated with a change in the infant's position and with a more or less great distance from the incubator. This method can therefore be employed only in case of infants whose clinical status allows their removal from the incubator to a great enough distance to make such contact possible. Cables of sensors, tubes of ventilators and the like may, in particular, be a hindrance in this connection or may make it entirely impossible to remove the infant.